Patch Up
by AWolfAmongSwans
Summary: [Set during Maxwell's imprisonement inside the DEO] When Alex returns injured from a mission, Max offers to help patch her up. [cross-posted from AO3]


Work Text:

"Agent Danvers!" Maxwell greets, ready to partake in their usual verbal sparring match that they're so often prone to having. "You're just in time, I was just thinking of redecorating the place. It could use some curtains, don't you think?" He spreads out his arms in front of him and gestures to the glass prison he is being held in with an amused smirk on his face, commencing the start of their repartee.

But Max's playful expression changes slightly as Alex comes closer, and he notices her battle worn appearance. His gaze lands on the torn fabric over her left shoulder and the wound peering out underneath it.

"That's a mighty deep gash you have there."

Alex briefly glances down at it, then back up at him. "It's just a scratch." She replies, shrugging it off as nothing, despite the throbbing pain radiating from it.

Max crosses his arms and tilts his head slightly, carefully watching as the crimson circle staining her shirt slowly increases in size. "It appears you and I have very different definitions of the word scratch." He comments dryly, eyes still focused on her injury.

The brunette lets out a tired sigh and tries to change subjects off of her wound. "Was there a reason you requested to speak to me or is it what I suspect, and that you've simply asked for me in an effort to help alleviate your boredom."

The billionaire chuckles slightly and raises his hands up in front of him. "It's would appear you've caught me Agent Danvers. That had been my intention."

Alex crosses her arms over her chest, which she immediately regrets doing as it sends a shooting pain up the top left side of her body. She momentarily bites down on her lip to prevent the yelp of pain from escaping her throat, then relaxes slightly when it passes.

"I'm not your play thing Max. You can't just call me in here for your own amusement. My job is to keep people safe, it is not to entertain you."

Normally she has more forbearance with him, and she often even enjoys participating in their back and forth dynamic, but the pain in her arm had left her short on patience and not in the mood for it. But as Alex spoke, she couldn't help but notice that his eyes kept drifting down to her injured shoulder.

"What?" She finally asks.

Max frowns and inclines his head in her direction. "Alex, you really should have that looked at."

She takes note of the switch from Agent Danvers, to her first name, and also picks up on the veiled tone of concern in his voice, despite his attempts to hide it. Letting out a small sigh, she lets her frosty treatment of him thaw slightly.

Softly, she shakes her head. "My men sustained far more serious injuries from the mission, and the medical team is already swamped as it is taking care of them." Because of that, she had concealed her injury from Hank, knowing full well he would worry if he had seen her shoulder. She didn't want to tie up the medics when there were those who were far more wounded in need of attention. She thought she had succeeded, but what she didn't account for however was Max's concern.

"Mine will just have to wait." She adds, with a firm nod. "Which reminds me, I should be getting back."

The DEO agent turns on her heel and starts to leave when he calls after her.

"What if I were to treat it?" Max offers.

Alex stops in her tracks and slowly turns back around in surprise at his suggestion. She doesn't say anything at first, just watches him curiously from the doorway.

"I did finish med school in only a year, after all." He informs her, sporting his usual arrogant grin he so often wears. "I'm more than capable of stitching up a laceration." He adds confidently.

She pauses a moment to think about his offer. Glancing back down at the wound, she finds that it's not getting any better. And if she was being completely honest with herself, she was starting to feel a tad lightheaded from the blood loss.

After one more moment of deliberation, she gives a nod. "Fine."

The brunette makes her leave of the room, and it's not long before she returns once again with the proper instruments and supplies to stitch up her shoulder. She opens up Maxwell's cell using the panel on the wall and hands him the materials she brought back with her.

As he sets up what he needs, Alex turns the other way and starts to pull off her over shirt, wincing slightly as the fabric sticks to her wound, and reveals a black racer back style tank top underneath. Dropping the soiled article of clothing onto the floor, she sits down on the small white bench inside of Max's cell.

Once done with everything, he heads over to her, but as Max comes closer, he can't help but notice the array scars across her shoulders and back. The sight of it catches him off guard slightly, though he's not sure why, after all, it's not like he's never seen her in action before out in the field. But actually seeing them up close for himself, reminded him just how dangerous her job really was. Unlike Supergirl, Alex Danvers was not bulletproof and he gave her a lot of credit for that.

Though he made no verbal mention of them, Alex felt his eyes on her back and couldn't help feeling a tad self conscious. She wasn't ashamed of her scars, it came with the territory of being a solider, but she wasn't all that comfortable with them being on display. It was one of the reasons why she usually wore long sleeved shirts, and on the rare occasions when she didn't, she had gotten pretty good at finding ways to cover them up. After all, it was rather hard to explain them to anyone who didn't know her real job as a DEO agent.

Max then sweeps her hair away from her shoulders so it doesn't get in the way, causing a small tingling sensation at the base of her neck, in which Alex chooses to believe, is simply from the hairs brushing up against her skin and not all because of his touch.

Pressing the cloth against her skin, Alex lets out a low hiss as he starts to clean the area around the cut. Once finished with that, he uses a numbing gel on the area before proceeding to start on the stitches.

Alex glances back and watches him perform with fluid motion and extreme ease. Any reservations she had earlier about his capabilities to do this, quickly went out the window.

"Is there anything your not good at?" She asks, a bit of incredulousness unintentionally seeping into her tone in the process. Though she didn't care to admit it, his vast array of skills were rather impressive.

Max looks down at her and grins smugly. "If there is, I haven't found it yet."

Alex lets out an amused huff, not at all surprised by his conceited response and smirks teasingly at him. "You might want to add **humility** to that list."

He chuckles, shaking his head slightly as he finishes up the last part of the stitch. "I've always found it to be an overrated quality, in my opinion."

"Oh, I don't doubt it."

Maxwell proceeds to skillfully tie off the end of it, then leans down closer.

Suddenly feeling his stubble against her neck, she abruptly straightens her back, and tenses up.

"What are you doing!?" She asks curiously, her voice coming out a little louder than intended due to her surprise.

Max stops, and pulls back to calmly explain. "You failed to bring me scissors, Agent Danvers. I need to do something to cut off the excess thread, otherwise it could get caught on something."

Studying him carefully, Alex senses he's actually being genuine in his reasoning and not what she had otherwise assumed. She's about to tell him he can just leave it, but before she can protest again, he leans in once more, takes the thread between his teeth and severs it.

"There." He announces. "All done."

"Thank you." Alex replies, somewhat awkwardly, ignoring the small shiver down her spine, as she makes her way to her feet and inspects his work. Facing away from him, she carefully rolls her shoulder back to see how it holds up and is pleased to see that it does.

He's about to ask her how it feels, but when she turns back around, Max can't help but notice the small hint of pink color in her cheeks. Tilting his head in amusement, he grins rather smugly. "You seem a bit flustered Agent Danvers."

Though it had not been his intention to do so, he'd be lying if he didn't say he wasn't enjoying it, especially given how unflappable Alex usually was.

The brunette glares at him, as she picks up her other shirt off the floor. "Keep dreaming, Max." She replies bluntly, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of her temporary loss of composure.

Maxwell laughs and shakes his head. "My apologies then." He answers smoothly, still wearing a pleased grin on his face.

Alex chooses to ignore him and collects the rest of the items she had brought in with her earlier. Noticing she's one item short, she turns around to find Max holding the last one. Letting out a sigh, she walks over to him and he suprisingly hands it over with out any games. She mumbles a quick thanks, and leaves the glass prison.

"Till next time, Agent Danvers."


End file.
